History 476

Devine

Spring 2016

Final Exam Study Questions

 

 

The final exam will consist of three parts: FOUR short essay questions and TWO long essay questions.  In Part One, I will give you six short essay questions; you will choose four to answer.  In Part Two, you will answer the question on Anne Moody’s Coming of Age in Mississippi. In Part Three, you will answer the question on Michael Patrick MacDonald’s All Souls. The exam questions will be taken from the questions below. 

 

There will be no questions on the exam that do not appear below. Since you have the questions ahead of time, it is expected that you will answer with more than just a superficial response.  Be sure to include as much specific evidence from the reading as possible to explain and support what you assert. If in grading your short answers it is clear to me that you have drawn on specific evidence from the reading (and, even better, specific evidence that goes beyond what we went over in class) you are more likely to get 9 or 10 points rather than 7 or 8.

 

To receive a passing grade for each of the long essay questions, your answer must be grounded sufficiently in specific evidence to make it clear to me that you actually read the book.

 

SHORT ESSAYS

 

  1. In his article discussing the Beats, what does Holton mean by the “folds of heterogeneity”?  Why is this an apt metaphor to describe the “cultural space” the Beats inhabited? What role did Ginsberg’s Howl play in drawing out a new subculture from the “folds of heterogeneity”?  Why was hearing the poem a “moment of recognition”?
  2. What groups became models for alienated white men looking for alternatives to mainstream American society?  Why was their admiration of “outsiders” often naïve or even racist?
  3. Why did the “moral guardians” of the Southern way of life see the emergence of rock music and the desegregation of schools as interconnected threats to the South’s social order?  What “threat” did these two social developments pose?
  4. How did Elvis Presley “negate” mainstream attitudes about race, sex, and the protestant work ethic? Why did Elvis’s ability to do this cause parents to “dread” him? [Robert Pielke article]
  5. Why did the fact that Elvis was white make him so threatening in the minds of both black and white parents?  
  6. Why did Elvis’s purchase of a pink Cadillac seem so subversive to many white middle-class Americans?  Why did the fact that it was pink make them even angrier?
  7. How did the experience of poverty and low social status shape Elvis’s attitude about his own success?  How did growing up poor and marginalized shape his music?
  8. What evidence does Michael Bertrand introduce to discredit the myth that Elvis had no following among African Americans and that he “stole” his act from African Americans?
  9. How does the assumption that Elvis Presley was out to “copy” black music in order to become a commercial success ignore the historical realities of life in the South during the 1950s?  In 1954, why was “acting black” and “crossing the color line” not a likely road to success for a white artist?
  10. Why were the ideas of the Old Left not much help to the New Left in its attempt to critique the “Affluent Society”?
  11. What was “participatory democracy”?  Why did SDS members believe that adopting it would improve American society?  Why did participatory democracy prove more attractive in theory than in practice?
  12. According to Steigerwald, how did the New Left change between 1962 and 1969?  Why did these changes bring about the New Left’s downfall?
  13. How did the counterculture’s protests against the “system” differ from those of political activists?  What about the “system” most bothered those in the counterculture? What alternative did they offer to the status quo?
  14.  What kinds of forces – within and beyond their own families – left young women in the 1950s and early 1960s feeling oppressed, out of place, or unsatisfied? Given these feelings, why were they attracted to joining the “counterculture”?
  15. How does Joan Didion’s first-hand panoramic view of life in the Haight convey a different impression of the counterculture than that portrayed in history books and in popular culture [In order to answer the question, you need to discuss not only Didion’s portrayal but also academic and popular portrayals of the counterculture, otherwise you won’t be able to show how Didion’s portrayal is different.]
  16. In what ways was punk a reaction to the musical culture of the 1970s?
  17. How did punks during the 1980s demonstrate a “D. I. Y.” (Do it yourself) attitude?
  18. Within the context of the punk subculture of the 1980s, what does it mean to be “anti-corporate”?  What aspects of the corporate music culture did punks reject and what steps did they take to offer an alternative musical culture?
  19. According to Kevin Mattson, why have various sub-cultural rebellions among the young since the 1950s failed to offer clearly reasoned alternatives to the mainstream culture they are rebelling against?
  20. According to Ilana Nash, how did teenage girls who listened to Shawn Cassidy (and other teen idols) actually demonstrate more of a feminist consciousness than other girls in the “cool” group who listened to hard rock music?
  21. How does Nash answer the criticism that young girls idolized “androgynous” singers like Shawn Cassidy because they weren’t “ready for real boys”?
  22. How were women’s roles in the world of music constricted during the 1950s and 1960s?  What roles did they play?  How were they treated by male performers and industry executives?
  23. What impact did the emergence of punk have on young women?  How did female punks demonstrate their rejection of traditional notions about femininity?

 

LONG ESSAYS

 

Coming of Age in Mississippi

 

Why was Anne Moody different than most other African Americans in Mississippi? What character traits did she have that others lacked? Why did these traits make her an effective leader in the Movement?

 

All Souls

 

Why was it so difficult for the residents of Southie to come to terms with the poverty in their neighborhood? How did both the white liberals and, especially, Whitey Bulger make it even more difficult for them to overcome their false pride and take steps to improve their lives?